When Kanade returned to the guild home, he found Maple and Sally were already there talking.

  “Ah, Kanade! Were you searching somewhere?”


  “Yeah, though I’ve already finished.”


  After saying that, he told them about his newly acquired “Skill Record”.

  “So now you can save any kind of skill, huh? ……Even those found on weapons you don’t own?”


  “I can’t make that work. No, how should I put it…… I can make a spellbook out of those skills, and I can still consume the spellbooks, but there’s no effect after that……”


  Sally seemed to think it was a shame that it didn’t matter whether he could save them or not. According to Kanade, even though the Rubik’s Cube that had added the skill bookcase was now a part of his “Akashic Records”, it would only be able to do so with staff-related skills. It would be more correct to say that the Rubik’s Cube was an item that added itself to the skill of his weapon the moment he obtained it. There was no doubt that if it was something he could pass along and share with others, it would be an incredible advantage in battle.

  “Though I don’t know if everyone can clear it. Are you good with puzzles?”


  “Ah, I see, that’s right……”


  Recalling that those skills weren’t obtained after defeating a boss, Sally thought that it would be undoubtedly harder for her to get them. No matter how good she was in combat, she would be unable to obtain the “Skill Record”. Sally wasn’t particularly bad at puzzles, but she couldn’t keep up the pace with a completely white puzzle. Besides, she would need to have Kanade’s “Akashic Records” –which was essentially a skill meant for mages– in order to use “Skill Record” to its full potential.

  “I could solve it for you, though.”


  “No no, that’s something I have to do for myself.”


  “Hehe, alright, alright.”


  “Hey, did you happen to find that by chance?”


  “Nope. There was another hint in the guild home’s basement…… I hadn’t learned of it until I went to the library in this Layer, though.”


  Kanade then told them about the characters he had found, and both Sally and Maple were surprised to learn that such a thing was in the game.

  “From now on, if you find any symbols, please take a picture of it.”


  “Yeah! Oh, I wonder if there are any symbols in those places we’ve already explored?”


  “Well, you two have explored much more than I have, so you might have already come across some of them.”


  “We’ll make sure not to miss them anymore from now on!”


  “Ahaha, so would you like to learn to read these symbols? If you look at them as letters, you really can’t miss them.”


  In response to his standpoint that the symboles weren’t that complex, Maple and Sally showed their willingness to learn them.

  “Okay, let’s start from the easy ones. Just being able to read a few of them will make a big difference.”


  “.……When you said that these symbols aren’t that complex, you meant by your standards, right, Kanade?”


  “Huh!? These are really difficult……”


  “Are they really?”


  Laughing mischievously, Kanade taught Maple and Sally what he had learned so far.

  After that, the two stayed in the guild home learning the symbol’s language from Kanade, but after a while, they decided to stop for the day.

  “So?”


  “I think I’m starting to get something?”


  “What you’ve taught us, at least.”


  “Well, everything is in order in each Layer’s library, so if you’re feeling like it, please do your best to learn them.”


  It wasn’t until he had arrived at the 8th Layer that he had the chance to find characters as actual hints, and there could be other places with writings using these characters to be found in this Layer.

  It wouldn’t hurt them to learn how to read those symbols.

  “If you find something like that, you can send me a message. I should be able to tell you if it’s useful.”


  “Really? Thanks!”


  “Wait, so then why do we have to bother learning all this……?”


  “Because learning new stuff is fun?”


  “I won’t deny that, but……”


  “Hehe, it’s not good exp, right?”


  “Well, yeah. I don’t think I earned a lot of exp points.”


  Of course, some games had created a language of their own, but not many games required players to be deciphering those languages. Especially the kind of games that were heavily oriented towards action that Sally liked to play.

  “Then I’ll look around the city again. It seems that even the city is worth checking this time around.”


  “There may be more hints like the ones in the guild home’s basement!”


  “Yeah, I’ll let you know if I find anything as well. Some places may be too hard for me to explore by myself.”


  “Sure, let us know and I’ll lend you a hand.”


  “Me too!”


  “I’m looking forward to hearing some interesting stories from you two as well.”


  “Yeah, leave it to us! We’ll look around all sorts of places!”


  Having heard that, Kanade nodded with a slight smile on his face, and headed out into the city.

  Meanwhile, at the guild home……

  “So, what should we do? Where do we start searching?”


  “Kanade said this as well…… I feel like going somewhere we haven’t been yet.”


  “Okay, let’s take a look at the map. It’s hard to come up with a good spot just by looking at the scenery outside.”


  Not only was the landscape in the 8th Layer rather unchanging, but there was also a limit to the amount of time they could spend in the water.

  “Are there any good spots?”


  “Hmm…… Our search as a team hasn’t progressed much since we’ve all been busy getting parts, so there’s not much information.”


  “Yeah, it’s been rough. I’ve just recently upgraded my diving suit, too……”


  “But there are some interesting places.”


  “Is that so?”


  “It’s a normal dungeon, but it’s in a place where you go through a building that feels like some kind of underwater temple.”


  “Oh~! That sounds amazing!”


  “The monsters there seem to be quite strong, so I was thinking about going there with you, Maple.”


  After saying that, Sally spun her new dagger in her hand. Maple was the one she always teamed up with when fighting monsters. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to try her new skills while fighting with her as a party.

  “Those skills seem hard to use……”


  “You just fight as usual, Maple! I’ll match what you do. After all, there’s only so much I’ll be able to try fighting with monsters.”


  Monsters couldn’t overthink things so much that they ended up misreading their opponents. In turn, Maple could take advantage of that, but not everything works well all the time.

  “Okay~! Let’s go~!”


  “I know where it is, so let’s ride on that!”


  “.……! On that!? Yeah!”


  Together with a cheerful, sparkly-eyed Maple, Sally left the guild home, heading towards the border between the field and the city, and took the jet ski out of her inventory.

  Of course, the jet ski that Iz had made for them gradually stabilized after making a loud noise as it collided with the water. After getting in first, Sally held out her hand to help Maple onto the rear seat.

  “Ok, hold on tight!”


  “Yeah! I can’t normally get on this, so I’m looking forward to it!”


  Maple had no way to handle the jet ski due to her absolute lack of any DEX at all, but Sally was a different story.

  “Okay, let’s go!”


  “Yeah!”


  After making sure Maple was holding tight onto her so that she couldn’t fall off, Sally stepped on the gas.

  “Wooh~! It’s fast, so faaast!”


  “Being able to move quickly over the surface of the water is huge, huh? I really have to thank Iz for this.”


  And so, leaving a spray of water behind them, they headed for their destination: the underwater temple.